Convertible skate



Nov. 23, 1948. J. w. HOWARD CONVERTIBLE SKATE Filed June 9, 1945 INVENTOR. M

. ATTORNEY. 2

Patented Nov. 23, 1948 UNITED STATES .PATENT OFFICE CONVERTIBLE SKATE Jack W. Howard, Brigham, Utah ApplicationjJune 9,1945, Serial No. 598,519

8 Claims. (Cl. 280 -113) This invention relates to roller skates and to ice skates.

Its purpose is to so form the footplate or base plate of a skate member that wheel trucks for roller skating can be quickly attached or detached at the front and the back respectively and when detached can quickly be replaced by a blade for ice-skating.

I show the device attached to a footplate which is attached to the bottom of a shoe by screws but obviously such a footplate could be provided with clamps, straps or other devices for attaching and detaching it to a shoe.

Shoe skates as they are now called are expensive and if a roller skate assembly is permanently attached to a shoe and the wearer wishes to skate on ice, he must have another set of shoe skates or else go back to the old style of strap or clamp attachable skates.

To accomplish my purpose, I provide a footplate with means to attach it to a shoe and having at the front and also at the back on the bottom or underneath a permanent hanger with a threaded attaching hole, and a hole or recess to receive one end of an arm or brace member of a front or of a back truck. Each truck is attached to a hanger by means of such an arm and by an attaching screw, and preferably each truck includes an elastic cushion which allows some resiliency for the movement of the axle of each roller truck when in use.

The ice skate blade is normally of steel and has near its front and near its back, post attaching holes for use with a front attaching post and a rear attaching post each of which is provided with a screw shank to fit an attaching hole in a hanger and a head with a slot into which the top of a blade enters and through which is a transverse head hole which registers with a transverse hole in the blade.

Both head holes may be threaded to receive a fastening screw or one, preferably at the front, can be merely a hole for a headed rivet.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a skate of my preferred construction attached in a conventional Way to a shoe.

Fig. 2 is a bottom view of the same skate removed from the shoe and with the roller truck also removed.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a roller truck removed from a footplate and Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a similar roller truck removed from the footplate.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation, partly in section,

showing a front roller truck in place on a post. of the footplate, some parts being shown in post.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 6 of a skate blade attached to a back post of a footplate.

Fig. 9 is a detail side elevation of a modification of part of a roller truck and its attaching screw.

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of a roller truck and an attaching screw slightly different from that shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary side elevation of a two part skate blade in position in the posts of afootplater In the drawings L is a footplate adapted to be r attached to a shoe such as S by means of holes I l, and plate attaching screws 2, 2.

Extending down from the bottom of this footplate at the front is a brace socket 3 and at the rear is a similar brace socket l3. Either socket can be engaged by the end 9 of a brace arm 6 ofa front wheel truck T or H) of a brace arm l6 of a rear wheel truck T which is of the same size and construction as the front wheel truck. Also extending from the footplate are the two fixed hangers H and E each of which has an axial threaded hole 5 or I5 in its barrel 53 or 54. The front socket 3 is spaced the same distance from the hole 5 in hanger H as socket I3 is from the hole l5 in hanger E.

As shown hangers H and E are connected and braced by a straight strap 10 and a brace 1| attached to a plate L at 12 and having ends 13 and 14, having holes 15 and 16, which extend up against the end of barrel 53 or 54.

Each truck has an attaching arm 1 or I! through which is an attaching hole 8 or I 8. Through this hole 8 or I8 passes a headed attaching screw A with a head 50 and a shank 5| which engages the screw threads in a hole 5 or IS in the barrel 53 or 54 of a hanger H or E. Each attaching arm is preferably large enough to form aseat for a cushion C.

. C is a cushion or bumper preferably of rubber or similar material shown as cylindrical with an axial hole 52 for an attaching screw A and positioned between arm I or I! and the end of a barrel 53 or 54 of a hanger H or E.

N and N are check nuts threaded on a shank of each attaching screw A. Each nut N serves to confine a cushion C between it and an attaching arm 1 or H thus holding itself, a truck T, attaching screw A, and a cushion together.

In order to convert this device from a roller skate to an ice skate, I unscrew the attaching screws A, A, upon which trucks T and .T will drop off together with their nuts N, N, and rubber cushions C, C. A rubber cushion such as C is highly desirable between a hanger H and a truck T for a roller skate, but not for an ice skate. Some other kind of block with a hole through it can be used if desired.

After the trucks and parts are removed, I use the two blade hanger attaching posts 30 and 20 each of which has a threaded shank which can be screwed into the threaded hole or [5 in a hanger H or E in place of an attaching screw A.

F and F are check nuts on the shank of each post 30 and 20.

Each hanger post 30 or 20 has .a head 3| or 2| in which is a slot 32 or 22 into which thetop of a skate blade B fits snugly. Such a blade B is preferably of steel and for a quick changeover, I may use a pivot screw P which passes through a hole 35 near the front of blade B and a threaded hole 36 through the head 3|. As shown,this pivot screw allows blade B to swing down a little as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 7., to clear rear post 20. Such a pivot screw or a rivet R, can be in place holding the post 30 and blade B pivotally together at all times. The whole blade B and the post 36 canbe turned together when post 30 is being screwed into hole 5 of a hanger H.

If desired, the pivot screw 1? may 'be replaced by a pivot rivet R, Fig. 7A, which will allow blade B to swing down enough to clear the other post 20 and then to be swung up into slot 22 so that holes 24 and 25 will register and allow fastening screw D to be screwed in place. I

At the other end of blade B is another hanger 4 a single wrench always of the same size can be used on all of them.

It is clear that the two trucks with their braces and the attaching arms, the attaching screws, sockets and other parts can be different in size and spacing except that the threaded holes in the hangers for the shanks of the attaching members, whether screws or posts, must fit such shanks. Preferably all theseshanks are uniform and the) two trucks are interchangeable.

There may be variations from my preferred construction some of which are shown in Figs. 9,

post 20 with a head 2!, slot 22 and threaded screw hole 26 to register with blade hole 25 for an attaching screw D which passes through these holes 25 and 26.

When the transverse attaching screw D is in place, the ice skate is complete with its blade B held rigidly in place.

This blade B can be removed by unscrewing attaching screw D from post 20 allowing the blade to drop and then pivot screw P can be removed releasing blade B, after which the posts 30 and 29 can be unscrewed; or, after post 20 is removed, blade B with pivot screw P or rivet R can be removed together as a unit, 'unscrew- Each truck T assembled with an attaching I screw A, cushion C and nut N can be kept as a unit when not on the foot .plate and a blade such as B with its front post pivotally attached by a screw P or rivet R. can be kept as a unit.

To change from rollers to ice or vice versa is a matter of a few minutes with a wrench for the nuts N and F and a screw driver :for screws A and back post screw D.

By making nuts N, Nyand F, E, and theiheads of posts 3|] and 20 all of the same cross section,

10 and 11.

In Fig. 9 a block 39 of the same size and shape as the elastic cushion, C and for the same purpose except that it may not be resilient, is part of the attaching arm 40.

In Fig. 10, I show how, instead of an attaching screw such as A with a turning slot in its head, the attaching screw 4| for a truck can be so made, with a head 42, blade slot '43 and fastening pin hole 44, that it can be used for one of the headedattaching posts for attaching an ice skating blade like B.

In Fig. 11, I show how a blade member can be made in two parts 45 and 46 .each being attached by means of an attaching member or post 47!, 48, the parts 45 and 46 being connected by a clip 49, and screws 55.

In the claims I intend to cover the idea of a footplate with hangers having threaded attaching screw holes for attaching screw members for one or more surface contact members such as roller trucks or a skate blade or blades, which contact members actually come in contact with and move on a flat surface like wood or ice.

'I claim:

1. For use with a roller skate having in its footplate a hanger at the front and another hanger at the back, each hanger having a threaded attaching post hole to receive a threaded hanger post member for attaching the truck of a roller skate; two ice skate hanger posts each with a shank threaded to fit said threaded attaching post hole .and a rectangular head with a threaded skate blade attaching hole extending through it, and a skate blade slot perpendicular thereto; a skate blade having two attaching holes; and two attaching screws each of which passes through a fasteninghole in a post head and through a fastening hole ina skate blade.

2. For .use with a roller skate having in its footplate a hanger atthe front and another hanger at the back, each hanger having a threaded attaching post holeto receive a threaded hanger post member for attaching the truck of a roller skate; two ice skate hanger posts each with a shank threaded to fit said threaded attaching .pcst hole and a head with :a threaded skate blade attaching hole extending through it, and a skate blade slot perpendicular thereto; a skate blade having two attaching holes; and two attaching screws each of which passes through a fastening hole in a gpost -head and through a fastening hole in askate blade.

4. An ice skate hanger post for use with a roller skate having a threaded hanger attaching post hole, said post having a shank threaded to fit said threaded hanger attaching post hole and 2, rectangular head with a threaded skate blade attaching hole extending through it, a skate blade slot Perpendicular to the skate blade attaching hole, and an attaching screw which passes through the skate blade slot and engages the skate blade attaching hole.

5. For use with a roller skate having in its footplate a hanger at the front and another hanger at the back, each hanger having a threaded attaching post hole to receive a threaded hanger post member for attaching the truck of a roller skate; two ice skate hanger posts each with a shank threaded to fit said threaded attaching post hole and a polygonal head with a skate blade attaching hole extending through it and a skate blade slot perpendicular thereto; a skate blade having two attaching holes; and two attaching members each of which passes through a fastening hole in a post head and through a fastening hole in a skate blade, there being a clearance between the top of the skate blade and the bottom of one skate blade slot in a hanger post head.

6. For use with a roller skate having in its footplate a hanger at the front and another hanger at the back, each hanger having a threaded attaching post hole to receive a threaded hanger post member for attaching the truck of a roller skate; two ice skate hanger posts each with a shank threaded to fit said threaded attaching post hole and a polygonal head with a skate blade attaching hole extending through it and a skate blade slot perpendicular thereto; a skate blade having two attaching holes; and twoattaching 6 members each of which passes through a fastening hole in a post head and through a fastening hole in a skate blade.

7. An ice skate hanger post for use with a roller skate having a threaded hanger attaching post hole, said post having a shank threaded to fit said threaded hanger attaching post hole and a polygonal head with a threaded skate blade attaching hole extending through it, a skate blade slot perpendicular to the skate blade attaching hole, and an attaching member which passes through the skate blade slot and engages the skate blade attaching hole.

8. An ice skate hanger post for use with a roller skate having a threaded hanger attaching post hole, said post having a shank threaded to fit said threaded hanger attaching post hole and a head with a skate blade attaching hole extending through it, a skate blade slot perpendicular to the skate blade attaching hole, and an attaching member which passes through the skate blade slot and the skate blade attaching hole.

JACK W. HOWARD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 310,923 Wardwell Jan. 20, 1885 1,097,875 Pierce May 26, 1914 1,187,961 Barr June 20, 1916 1,266,386 Barr May 14, 1918 1,294,984 Ware Feb. 18, 1919 1,802,116 Kinsley Apr. 21, 1931 1,900,040 Brien Mar. '7, 1933 

